In Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli, Libyan revolutionary supporters cheer Monday as National Transitional Council chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, not shown, delivers his speech calling for a civil, democratic state. “No retribution, no taking matters into your own hands and no oppression,” said Abdul-Jalil. He thanked NATO, the U.S. and Arab and European countries for their help.

TRIPOLI, Libya — The chief of Libya’s revolutionary movement told thousands of cheering Libyans in Tripoli on Monday to strive for a civil, democratic state, while loyalists of hunted dictator Moammar Gadhafi killed at least 15 opposition fighters in an attack on a key oil town in Libya’s east.

From hiding, Gadhafi urged his remaining followers to keep up the fight, a sign that Libya’s six-month civil war is not over even though revolutionary forces now control most of the country and have begun setting up a new government in the capital.

“We will not be ruled after we were the masters,” said the brief statement attributed to Gadhafi that was read on Syria’s Al-Rai TV by its owner, Mishan al-Jabouri, a former Iraqi lawmaker and Gadhafi supporter.

Revolution leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil addressed a crowd of thousands in Martyrs’ Square in central Tripoli, a site that until recently was famous for pro-Gadhafi rallies. Flanked by a few dozen revolutionary leaders in their largest public gathering since rebel forces stormed into the capital Aug. 21, he called on Libyans to build a state based on the rule of law.

“No retribution, no taking matters into your own hands and no oppression,” he said. “I hope that the revolution will not stumble because of any of these things.”

Abdul-Jalil heads the National Transitional Council, founded in the eastern city of Ben ghazi early in the civil war to guide the rebel movement. Its leaders have been arriving in the capital since it fell into rebel hands last month to start building a new government.

Abdul-Jalil, who served as Gadhafi’s justice minister before joining the rebels at the uprising’s start, also thanked NATO, the United States and a number of Arab and European countries for their aid to the rebels during the war.

Showing that Gadhafi’s loyalists still pose a threat to opposition control, suspected supporters staged deadly attacks on the Ras Lanouf oil terminal in Libya’s east that began with saboteurs setting fires and then shifted to a convoy of gunmen riding in from the desert.

Col. Hamid al-Hasi, the commander for anti-Gadhafi forces in eastern Libya, said a group of 15 employees set fire to the facility, on the Mediterranean coast about 380 miles southeast of Tripoli.

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